Beyond Patriotism

From Truman to Obama

Beyond Patriotism argues that some millions of Americans have become "post-national" people who put the good of humanity ahead of patriotism or national honour. It discusses the decisions that disillusioned them from the Vietnamese War, to the attempt to put Pol Pot back into power, to the sanctions against Iraq.

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Beyond Patriotism argues that some millions of Americans have become "post-national" people who put the good of humanity ahead of patriotism or national honour. It discusses the decisions that disillusioned them from the Vietnamese War, to the attempt to put Pol Pot back into power, to the sanctions against Iraq. Rather than lamenting the heyday of patriotism, post-national people should congratulate themselves on attaining moral maturity. They should clarify their thinking about why nationalism is bankrupt, what Americans should do to pacify the world, what they owe to their native land, and what they owe to themselves.

Credit: Kevin Clements, Secretary General International Peace Research Association (2008-2010)

"Flynn sees that 'Love of One's Country’ is a dangerous thing and argues convincingly for what he calls post-national humanism. This is a book that needs to be read by anyone concerned about creating a more just and peaceful world in the 21st century."

Credit: Jeremy Waldron, Chichele Professor, Oxford University

"I don't know of any more measured reflection on these dangerous matters, patriotism, nationalism, and their place in an increasing troubled world, than Jim Flynn’s latest work. It is compelling, the more so because it is informed by an honest account of his own life and his own love of the countries that have formed his identity."

"In this painfully honest appraisal of the US role in world affairs, James Flynn employs a post-nationalist lens to argue that concerned citizens must not exempt their own country from critical moral scrutiny and judgment. The result is an illuminating and engaging analysis of some of the most significant and contentious contemporary issues."

May 17, 2012

Source: The Sun

"America and its allies have increasingly found themselves at war. IQ expert James R Flynn studies decision making behind every recent major conflict - from A-Bomb that ended the WWll to Iraq - to identify what patriotism means in the 21st Century. An interesting take on the subject of war and what it means to us."

Source: Scientific and Medical Network

"The thrust of this book's argument is that millions of Americans have now become post-national in their affiliation, putting the good of humanity ahead of patriotism and national honour. The last part describes a post-national era where the state as moral authority is being replaced with the concept of the ethical state."

Source: Publishers Weekly

"Sometimes spot-on look at the most problematic aspects of America's armed interventions from Hiroshima to Afghanistan. In arguing that none of America’s wars of the past 50 years have been 'morally permissible'."